Chapter 7
“Is there some way to get them professionally cleaned, do you think?” Kelly asked, frowning as she rubbed a dust cloth over the fur of one of the feline members of the Pride.
Rose had pulled the oldest of the stuffed Siamese cats out from the alcove where it was kept—usually behind curtains, when there was any chance of company since their grandmother had discovered early that a lot of people were rather taken aback by her strange choice in collectables.
Rose shook her head, looking at the macabre frozen face and glassy eyes of the creature.
This one had died long before she was born.
“I’m sure there is, but how much would it cost to get all of them clean?
Probably a fortune and we’re just now paying to do all those clothes.
We can’t always be asking Deanna and Mitchell for money. It’s not right.”
“I know,” Kelly said with a sigh. She wore two long braids in her hair as she always did, and her glasses were slipping down her nose. “I just hate that, even after we’ve finally got the house redone so nice, everything still seems to be crumbling around us.”
“I guess that happens when you love old things.” Rose gave her sister a smile, wishing the girl didn’t have to worry all the time.
She was just twenty—and still in college.
Most girls that age weren’t forced to spend their time thinking of ways to scrape together enough money to take care of all the family heirlooms.
Rose and Kelly continued dusting the Pride and their alcove in silence.
It was Sunday, Rose’s day off, and she usually spent it over at the Beaufort house since it was one of the only times in the week that she was guaranteed time to spend with her family.
She’d come over as usual first thing this morning, and she wasn’t sure whether she’d go back to the Harwoods this afternoon or not.
She’d told the girls she’d swim with them this afternoon, and she hated to break a promise.
But she also wanted to avoid James as much as possible.
She couldn’t believe what had happened yesterday. She couldn’t believe she’d gotten so out of control that she’d surrendered to her feelings the way she had.
She couldn’t believe she’d actually kissed her boss.
She also couldn’t believe he’d kissed her.
The whole interlude was like a hot blur of sensation and emotion, and she could hardly remember specific details of how it had happened. Because of the interruption and the confusion about whether it was Genevieve who had come by and caught them, the embrace had come to an abrupt end.
That was good. Who knew what would have happened if they hadn’t been interrupted.
It was one thing to try to pretend a kiss never happened. It would have been something entirely different to pretend sex had never happened.
Rose shivered at the thought of having sex with James, although she knew it was something she’d never experience. Not in real life anyway.
She was trying to push the whole subject out of her mind so she wouldn’t brood when Kelly asked unexpectedly, “So the engagement is off, huh?”
Rose stiffened her shoulders and tried not to show any reaction on her face. “Yeah. I guess so.”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
“I guess so.”
“She seemed like a real bitch when she came over here the other day.”
Swallowing hard, Rose couldn’t help but agree, although she tried to resist the impulse. “She wasn’t at her best.”
“Maybe. But her worst really sucks.” Kelly slanted her sister a look. “Aren’t you happy the engagement is off?”
“Why would I be happy?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Because you don’t want your boss to marry anyone else?”
Rose met her sister’s eyes coolly. “If you have something to say…”
“I don’t have anything to say except you get all jittery and aloof whenever you talk about him—especially lately. I was wondering if that meant anything.”
It wasn’t surprising that Kelly had noticed something. Deanna had obviously noticed the same thing. Rose had never been good at hiding her feelings, and the sisters had always been close. “What does it matter?”
“What do you mean? Of course it matters, especially since it looked to me like he might be feeling some stuff for you too.”
“Whatever he’s feeling doesn’t matter.”
“Why doesn’t it—”
“Because I’m the nanny of his kids, and he’s never going to cross that line.
He lives his life all careful and tidy with everything carefully categorized in its appropriate place.
I’m in the nanny category, which is where I belong.
Plus, I kind of think he’s still trying to find a substitute for his wife, and I’d be a terrible substitute. I’m not anything like her.”
“Surely he’s not actually looking for an exact replacement, is he?”
“I don’t know. Not consciously, I’m sure.
But I really think that’s how he ended up with Genevieve—because she was so much like his wife only more selfish and manipulative, I hope.
I don’t think his wife was cold like she is.
He claims he doesn’t feel guilty about moving on, but sometimes I wonder if he does—and that’s why he’s looking for someone just like her.
Anyway, I’m nothing like what he’d be looking for, so it’s never going to happen. ”
Kelly was looking at her closely. “Okay,” she said lightly. “Then I guess it doesn’t really matter.” She paused. “Right?”
“Right.”
“Why do you look like you’ve just broken Grandmama’s favorite vase?”
Rose had to tell someone or she might just explode. “I kissed him,” she whispered.
Kelly’s dark green eyes went wide. “What did you say?”
“She said she kissed him.” The voice came from the doorway behind them.
Both of them whirled around to see their grandmother standing there in her usual black dress and stern expression.
Rose wanted to melt with embarrassment. She wouldn’t have minded for Kelly to know she’d slipped up and kissed James. But she definitely didn’t want her old-fashioned, interfering grandmother to know.
The old woman walked all the way into the room and sat down in her favorite Queen Anne chair near the fireplace. “Am I to assume the gentleman kissed you first?”
Rose wished the floor would open up and swallow her. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”
“Young lady, you just brought it up with Kelly, so it has now become appropriate conversation for the family. I assume you didn’t kiss him against his will.”
With a gasp, Rose replied quickly, “Of course not.”
“Very good.” Her grandmother closed her eyes. “Very good.”
Kelly’s and Rose’s eyes met across the room. “It’s not really good,” Rose said dryly.
“Of course it is. We can make it work. What is this I hear about his still being engaged to that most inappropriate woman who came into our house uninvited last week?”
“He’s not still engaged to her. He broke it off several days ago. She’s just going around talking as if they’re still together.”
“Hmm.”
“Does she have a few screws loose?” Kelly asked, shaking her head in confusion.
“I don’t know. I assume she’s trying to make things work in her favor, but I don’t know what her end goal is.”
“Her end goal must not be realized,” their grandmother intoned in that almost prophetic tone that never failed to scare Rose. “Let me think for several hours. I will develop a plan.”
“I don’t want a plan, Grandmama. Really, I don’t. I just want to go back to work and forget all this drama ever happened.”
“You really think you can do that?” Kelly asked.
“I can try.”
The truth was, Rose was absolutely positive that she could never forget about any of it.
Jill texted Rose around lunchtime to ask if she was coming back to swim that afternoon, and Rose felt too bad for the little girls to refuse.
It turned out the afternoon wasn’t too painful. They played games in the pool for a few hours, and then they dried off and went inside. At five o’clock, the girls were getting hungry, so Rose went to the kitchen to make some sandwiches.
She was spreading peanut butter when James joined her in the kitchen. He’d acted naturally and casually all day, not behaving as if anything was different. Rose marveled that he could put it behind him so easily.
She wished she could.
“Do you need any help?”
Rose shrugged. She didn’t need help, and she’d rather not be with him alone like this, but she nodded toward the pitcher of lemonade she’d pulled out of the refrigerator. “You can pour drinks, if you don’t mind.”
James pulled out some cups and started pouring.
“What are the girls doing?” Rose asked, mostly to make conversation.
She felt strange—and as though James was discreetly watching her as if he wanted to make sure she was all right and wasn’t going to have an emotional breakdown or something—and she wished for the billionth time she hadn’t been stupid enough to kiss him yesterday.
“They’ve decided to build a fort with the blankets and towels and eat their sandwiches underneath it.” There was a smile in his voice.
“Good for them.”
It still felt like James was observing her, and it was starting to get on her nerves. When she put the last sandwich together, she turned around and gave him an almost challenging look. “You don’t think I’m going to faint away in your presence or something, do you?”
He blinked. “Of course not.”
“Then why do you keep looking at me?”
“Why wouldn’t I look at you?”
“You never have before.”
His expression was starting to turn grumpy. “Of course I have. Why wouldn’t I look at you?”
“Because I’m your nanny and I was always in the background. There was no reason for you to look at me before.”
“I’ll have you know I look at my nanny all the time.”
She could tell the words had been an automatic rebuttal that he hadn’t really thought through. For just a moment, amusement flickered on his face as if he’d heard what he just said and found it funny. Rose felt a wave of laughter too.
Before either of them could actually laugh though, James’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen and gave a low groan. “Marta.”
Rose could completely understand why he didn’t want to talk to her. “So don’t answer it if you don’t want.”